Two Leominster historians duel over location of historic cannons

LEOMINSTER -- Two Civil War historians are skirmishing over the placement of ships' cannons that were given to the city as monuments in 1900.

Stephen J. Twining, a graves registration officer for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, wants to keep the three cannons in Evergreen Cemetery near the burial plots of a large group of veterans, but the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 116 is requesting the city move two of them to Carter Park, where there is a Civil War memorial.

"Since we now have a Civil War monument in Carter Park and it's observed, I think it's appropriate," said local historian Thomas "Tucker" Hazzard, who is a member of the VVA.

Twining appeared before the City Council Tuesday opposing Hazzard's petition to move the cannon.

The federal government loaned four cannons to Leominster with the stipulation they be prominently displayed in a respectful manner.

The cannons were part of a Civil War memorial in the middle of the intersection where Main Street meets Central Street, until the memorial was moved to nearby Monument Square some time before 1984.

The cannons were too large for the square and relocated to Evergreen Cemetery, where there are a number of graves for Civil War veterans, called the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) plot.

"Which isn't a prominent display," Hazzard said. "Out of respect to veterans, we think they should be returned to a spot the community can observe them and ask questions.

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At some point before getting to the cemetery, one of the cannons disappeared along with an iron fence that had surrounded them.

It is only coincidental the Civil War monument in Carter Park honors Oliver Hazzard, who served in the famed 54th Massachusetts Regiment, Hazzard said. Hazzard is not related to the black soldier and the monument only uses Oliver Hazzard to represent all the men who fought in the Civil War, he said. .

He researched the cannon and learned one came off the USS Honduras, which fired its guns 46 times. Another gun came from the USS Portsmouth and the third from the USS Oleander. It is believed the missing gun was from the Honduras.

They are Parrott cannons, meaning the bores are rifled to improve accuracy, according to both Twining and Hazzard, a past president of the Leominster Historical Society.

"Since we can't do it in the middle of town the next best place to me would be a civil war park at a civil war statue," Hazzard said.

One cannon would be left in its current spot, Hazzard said.

Twining disagrees with the VVA. Moving the cannons will disturb what has become a memorial in its own right and disrupt the tradition of Memorial Day services, Twining said.

Oliver Hazzard was outstanding because he was from Leominster and a member of an all-black regiment -- portrayed in the 1989 movie "Glory" -- but the memorial in Evergreen Cemetery honors all the soldiers, Twining said.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War gave cemetery Director Dave DeMar a citation for refusing to sell the cannons to a solicitor in 2010.

The city sent 404 men to the war when its population was about 3,522 and 48 were killed.

Based on the 2010 population of about 40,759, those numbers project to 4,674 men sent to war and 428 killed, Twining said.

Evergreen Cemetery has at least 374 Civil War soldiers buried within its boundaries.

The original monument was already diminished by moving it, losing one of the cannons and the fence, Twining said.

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